Emergency Preparedness and Response

The Minnesota Public Health Laboratory

The Minnesota Public Health Laboratory’s Emergency Preparedness and Response unit is critical to Minnesota’s public health response and intervention system, capable of responding to public health emergencies 24/7. We work closely with state and federal agencies as well as local and federal law enforcement to prepare for rapid response in the event of an emergency.

Biological Emergency Preparedness and Response: As a Laboratory Response Network (LRN) Reference Laboratory for the State of Minnesota, we provide confirmatory testing for potential agents of bioterrorism referred from LRN Sentinel Clinical Laboratories.

Chemical Emergency Preparedness and Response: We are a Level 1 laboratory in the Laboratory Response Network for Chemical Threats, meaning that we have the capability to test for select chemicals and chemical metabolites in clinical specimens collected from people exposed to toxic chemicals. See Collecting Specimens from Chemical or Radiological Exposure Events. In addition to providing clinical diagnostic assistance for chemical exposures, our lab assists in identifying unknown substances that may pose a public health threat. See Testing Unknown Substances.

Our scientists use state-of-the-art methodologies and sophisticated instrumentation unavailable to most facilities. The laboratory is equipped with a Biosafety Level 3 containment facility, which protects laboratory scientists in handling and containing highly infectious agents or samples of unknown origin. We also maintain the capability to respond to Radiological Emergencies.

Please call the appropriate number on our Emergency Contact Information page with questions.